An ISU professor will study ancient medical instruments he stumbled across in Israel during a summer lecture.

Hector Avalos, associate professor of religious studies, was lecturing last summer when relics were uncovered at an archaeological dig in Bethsaida, a city mentioned in the Bible as the hometown of some of Jesus’ disciples.

“I was stunned by my luck,” he said. “Here I have written on ancient health care systems for over ten years, and I literally walk on this site by accident just days after my arrival in the country.”

Avalos said he has done extensive research and writing on ancient health care in two books.

In his most recent book, “Health Care and the Rise of Christianity,” Avalos argues that Christianity arose as a Jewish sect that was responding, in part, to problems of health care within Judaism and the Greco-Roman world.

“What I’ve been working to do is to initiate an entirely new area of study,” Avalos said. “I look at medical anthropology with history and Biblical studies that have not been done before.”

Since 1997, excavations have uncovered an Iron Age settlement underneath the Hellenistic-Roman city.

Avalos also said some medical instruments were found inside a building in Bethsaida, which may have functioned as a clinic or as the house of a physician.

“You don’t find medical instruments over there with any regularity,” he said. “This is an unusual find.”

Rami Arav, director of excavations at Bethsaida and professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, asked Avalos to study the medical instruments to determine their use.

“The instruments themselves are in relatively good condition, and we can attempt a good guess of what they were used for,” Avalos said.

Avalos said he also hopes to study the substances found in containers at the site.

“Looking at these factors could tell us a lot about the economics of health care in this period,” he said.

Through the support of the university’s Jewish Study Committee, Iowa State is joining a consortium of universities studying Bethsaida.

Zora Zimmerman, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said she is excited about the involvement of the Jewish Study Committee with the find.

“[We want] to give visibility to Jewish thought, culture and history, and to strengthen and enhance Jewish studies,” said Zimmerman, administrator of the Jewish Studies Committee. “The committee found its beginnings in a group that was organized to enhance and strengthen Jewish studies on this campus.”

Avalos said he would be on the consortium’s board of directors and hopes to get more people involved with the dig.

“My goal is to establish both a new course in biblical archaeology and a program that will take Iowa State students and faculty to excavate in Israel,” he said.

Avalos said he is “looking for students who have a sense of adventure and are willing to work hard” for next summer’s dig.

“Usually students who dig at Bethsaida can also take excursions to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea Caves, among other places, to learn more about Israel’s history,” he said.